Marans and Welsummer - Argentina Debut! gender pics

[Tamara119]

Thanks! Lately I was thinking it was a cockerel, but then today I started thinking pullet again, so I just wanted to see if I was way off base or not!

 

[Tamara119]

Wow! The mother laid an egg today! The chicks are one day short of 5 weeks. She's still mothering them, but I'm worried she'll give them the boot soon. As you can see from the pics a few days ago, they are not fully feathered yet. It's still really cold here at night (it's spring here and many mornings are frosty) and without their mother I think I'll need to put a heat lamp on for them.
Has anyone had a hen return to lay AND keep her chicks or should I expect her to push them away soon?
Thanks!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Wow! The mother laid an egg today! The chicks are one day short of 5 weeks. She's still mothering them, but I'm worried she'll give them the boot soon. As you can see from the pics a few days ago, they are not fully feathered yet. It's still really cold here at night (it's spring here and many mornings are frosty) and without their mother I think I'll need to put a heat lamp on for them.
Has anyone had a hen return to lay AND keep her chicks or should I expect her to push them away soon?
Thanks!

Totally depends on the hen. Just watch her to see if she lays and is still attentive. I've had hens lay again and still be good moms...but if she goes broody again for a new clutch, then she will likely refuse them. Have plan B in case she begins to peck at them and chase them away.

Lady of McCamley

 

[Vicky Argetina]

Hi Tamara, you've got lovely chicks! Congrats! I'm from Argentina. I'm looking for Welsummers and I can't find any. Could you help my by telling me where you got the eggs from so I can see if I can buy some, too? Thanks in advance!

 

[Tamara119]

Hi! Nice to meet you! I saw your profile here a while back when I was searching for something regarding Argentina. It's nice to know there's a fellow BYCer here. I actually brought the eggs from Canada, as neither breed exists here (until now, of course)! This time my focus was to get a breeding pair of Marans, and the two Welsummer eggs I brought were just for fun. Only one of the W eggs hatched, but luckily it's female. I will bring some more W eggs when I make a trip to Canada in April, so it'll be about September next year before I have fertile W eggs to sell. Once the BCMs are laying I'll have fertile eggs of theirs to sell. Are you interested in some BCM eggs? I'll take some pics today, they are all looking great!

 

[RoostersCrow HensDeliver!]

I'm really sorry, but chick #1 is not a pure Marans. His legs are yellow and Marans have white legs.

 

[Tamara119]

That would be very surprising, because the eggs came from a reputable breeder, and when I went to get the eggs from him I saw his BCMs, he had about 4 roosters and a dozen hens in a coop with a completely fenced and roofed run. Looking at the first pics, I believe that my camera (which was set to 'vivid' colours) really over saturated the colour. Their feet when they hatched were lighter pinkish yellow, but now their feet look all grey, with kind of a greyish yellow only underneath. Chick #1 has a bit of this pale colour in between his toes. Here are new photos, and I specifically chose one showing his foot.


Chick #1 (he's been very slow with his feathers, but he's just starting to get a bit of copper on the back of his neck):






Chick #2, already with some copper tinge:




Chick #4:

 

[Tamara119]

Actually, their feet are no different than those on these chicks.

 

[Brandi Leigh]

Beautiful pictures!

 

[RoostersCrow HensDeliver!]

It's just really strange that his legs would be so yellow in those older pictures and fade to almost normal. I can still see a hint of yellow between his toes but it's not super noticeable.
And yes, all the white skinned chicks I've had have hatched with yellow legs but they fade to white/pink in a few weeks. Your boy was much older and his siblings had already faded by then. Are his pads pink or yellow now?